Takeru Takaishi
Takeru "T.K." Takaishi is a character in the anime and manga series Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02. He is the younger brother of Yamato "Matt" Ishida. He is partnered with Patamon, and embodies the trait of Hope. Prelude to Digimon Adventure Four years before Digimon Adventure, T.K. lived with his parents and brother at Highton View Terrace, where he and his brother witnessed the battle between Greymon and Parrotmon. This event caused the two to be chosen to be among the new DigiDestined. Sometime later, his parents divorced for unknown reasons. Matt was given the decision of who each child should live with, and while he was unwilling to abandon his father, he sent T.K. to live with their mother. T.K. was too young to remember his parents' divorce clearly, and so was not as affected by it as much as Matt, and remained quite cheerful throughout the series. Though he doesn't mind living with his mother, T.K. is still happy when he gets to visit his father. Digimon Adventure T.K. was the youngest DigiDestined when the first original seven were transported into the Digital World. However, he was fairly independent on his own, rebuffing his older brother Matt's attempts to comfort and coddle him. Though he often acted quite childish, he was the only one to suffer the loss of his Digimon, and in fact matured from the experience. When Patamon digivolved into Angemon, Angemon summoned all of the others' strengths and sacrificed himself in order to defeat Devimon. This event traumatized him severely, to the point where three years later he still possessed an utter hatred of "the powers of darkness," along with nightmares about losing Angemon again in combat. T.K. played a critical role in defeating Puppetmon. While at his mansion, T.K. taunted Puppetmon, saying that he had no friends and other insults, upsetting Puppetmon. He led Puppetmon through traps and a game of hide-and-seek, allowing T.K. to destroy his playroom and take the dolls he used to control the other digidestined. It was also T.K.'s hope that Matt and the others would be saved that allowed Angemon to digivolve into MagnaAngemon and helped Wargreymon and MetalGarurumon to defeat Piedmon. Our War Game! T.K. was with Matt visiting their grandmother out in the country. Tai and Izzy managed to get a hold of them and warned them about Diaboromon. Following this, the brothers searched the surrounding town for a computer to help fight in the Internet. T.K., however, could not do much to help in the battle and could only watch in horror as Patamon fell to Diaboromon. He was one of the many viewers around the world who watched the final battle between Omnimon and Diaboromon. Between Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02 In May 2000, T.K. arrived in the Digital World and gave up his Crest power to free the Digimon Sovereigns. As a result, Patamon lost the power to become MagnaAngemon. Digimon Adventure 02 T.K. grows a lot during the last years after his first adventure. He is 13 (7th grade). At the start of April 2002, he and his mother moved to Odaiba, with T.K. attending Odaiba Elementary in the same class as Davis and his good friend Kari. Because he and Kari are already good friends, T.K. immediately becomes the rival (and sometimes friend) of a paranoid Davis (even though Davis had the habit of messing up T.K.'s name). Like Kari, T.K. has a slight advantage compared to the new kids because he has had the most experience with Digimon. After Paildramon and Silphymon debut, Cody sees that he and T.K. would have to have their Digimon DNA Digivolve. He soon learns that there are two sides to T.K.: The 'kind and cheery' T.K. and the fierce and serious T.K. that only surfaces in the matters of villains of pure evil like Devimon or Kimeramon. T.K.'s second side was mainly due to Angemon's previous death and how he doesn't want to see Patamon die again, which is made clear to Cody when BlackWargreymon attacks one of the destiny stones. In midst of the battle, Angemon is grabbed by the throat and tells T.K. not to worry about him and to save the stone. T.K. then sees the glow of the destiny stone and yells for Angemon to digivolve, which he does successfully to the DigiDestined and BlackWargreymon's surprise. On Christmas Day, T.K., Tai and their Digimon go to Paris to help the DigiDestined of France round up the wild Digimon who had appeared in the Real World as a result of Arukenimon opening all the Digi-Ports. In the Other World, T.K. was subjected to MaloMyotismon's illusion: his desire for his family to be together again. But Patamon and Davis broke him free of the illusion and he then joined with the other kids, who were in the process of breaking free of their illusions too. T.K. used the power of the dream dimension against MaloMyotismon, his dream for not one to suffer as he had, with Angemon, MagnaAngemon, Pegasusmon and Shakkoumon appearing all at once. Hurricane Touchdown/Supreme Evolution! The Golden Digimentals When he and Kari visited Mimi in New York, they encountered Willis, Terriermon and Wendigomon. While on a train for Colorado, their train was hindered by Wendigomon so they had to continue on foot. He and Kari managed to join the others during the fight with Kerpymon. Dimensions In Book Two, when the tamers arrived in the Digidestined universe and the Dark Masters returned, T.K. fought against the megas alongside the others. In Book Three, when half the Digidestined were sent by Gennai to the tamer's universe, T.K. and Patamon were among those who went, only to be forced to flee to the Digital World almost immediately to escape the Demon Lords. At the City of Dominion, T.K. and Patamon gained a D-arc and the ability to Biomerge to Seraphimon. Eventually, T.K. requested that he be called "Takeru" instead of his childhood nickname. He claimed that being called "T.K." was alright when he was a child, but it sounded silly as he grew older. Davis responded by insisting that he begins to refer to the blond boy as "T.K" instead of his earlier mispronounciations or the requested "Takeru." As Davis and Kari's relationship develops, it becomes clearer that Takeru has strong feelings for Kari as well. For a long time, the boy refuses to admit it. In Book Seven, Takeru finally admits that he loves Kari and has for a long time. Kari responds by telling him that she likes him a lot, but not in the same way he cares about her. Davis is especially understanding, having imagined the same scenario long ago, only with Takeru ending up with Kari instead of Davis. The blond boy is still upset because his unspoken hope about Kari has finally been destroyed by learning her true feelings don't match his.